Indian Students’ interest in Engineering is Dropping

Indian Students’ interest in Engineering is Dropping and Expected to Slump even more, says a FirstPost report.

Over the past few years, there has been a consistent drop in the number of students enrolling in engineering and technology courses. According to TeamLease Edtech co-founder and president Neeti Sharma, this trend will continue as IT companies hire fewer people.

“Over the past few years, there has been a steady decline in the number of students enrolling in engineering and technology courses. For example, the enrollment in BTech programs fell from roughly 40 lakh in 2016–17 to 36 lakh in 2020–21.”

“In the past five years, BTech and BE courses have seen a steady decline as job opportunities in core streams have diminished. The overall fresher hiring by IT companies has declined from 26 per cent of overall passouts in FY22 to 15 per cent and 10 per cent in FY23 and FY24, respectively,” Sharma told PTI.

However, she noted that there is some light at the end of the tunnel and courses such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber Security are still seeing niche demand.

“Both current employees, freshers, and experienced candidates have recognised the need to upskill in these specific domains in order to stay competitive in the IT sector. Tier-I IT firms are prioritising digital transformation, data analytics, cloud computing, and such courses in these domains will remain in demand,” she added.

Freshers who come with a myriad of skills including technical and soft skills and display high emotional intelligence will always be in demand, she added.

Read the full report details from FirstPost story.

Recognising the industry trend and student preferences, Pioneer College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore keeps updating the academic programmes offered and value added courses to prepare the students to improve the students’ career options.